


a thank you gift

by watchedyouburn



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Getting Together, Group chat, M/M, Pining, also yes babe heffron wears black rimmed square glasses thanks for coming to my ted talk, babe is a gay disasterTM, can't write smut to save my life, his friends are having a lot of fun at his expense, i hate myself lmao, i have tried to embody how i think each one would write in group convos and it was fun, there's no smut even though the description would make you think so sorry, tumblr text post turned fanfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:55:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26425252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watchedyouburn/pseuds/watchedyouburn
Summary: Babe hums and clasps his hands unexpectedly. “Honestly, ya know what? When we’re done with this whole thing I’m honestly going down on the first doctor or nurse I see who wanna. Just to thank them, ya know”.That’s the moment Doc Roe choses to enter the coffee shop. “Will ya now, Heffron. Don’t forget to use protection.”Julian snorts, coffee pouring out of his nose and through his mask as he starts laughing uncontrollably.OR Babe makes an offer to anyone who will take it but it's a well-known fact amongst their friends group that there is only one doctor in the whole world Babe Heffron wants to go down on, and that it is intern Eugene Roe.
Relationships: Babe Heffron/Eugene Roe
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33





	a thank you gift

**Author's Note:**

> i can't believe i'm back in this fandom after over three years. i went to normandy this summer and i fell back hard into baberoe and band of brothers like it was 2016 again lmao. and then i saw [this](https://deciduousellie.tumblr.com/post/629041749381218304/tanookitoes-after-corona-has-been-tamed-im) textpost and well, this happened. honestly i don't even know.
> 
> DISCLAIMER  
> i mean no disrespect to the real men of easy, this is pure fiction based on the fictional work that is the HBO mini-serie band of brothers. i'm sorry they made it so homoerotic, trust me.

“Aww… fucking… hell” Babe looks up from where he is cleaning up the floor as a loud thump is heard from the storage room. Julian comes out ten seconds later, cursing and muttering something about fucking coffee ground boxes always being stored under thousands of other boxes even though it’s the ones they need the most. Julian drops the box on the counter to open it up and Babe resumes his cleaning. 

“Your mask is fallin’ off your nose ya idiot” he tells him.

“Fuck you” Julian says before he starts grumbling again about those masks not being made for people with small noses and so on.

“Or people who wear glasses” Babe pipes up, pulling his back into place from where they’ve irremediably slid down his nose. “But we hafta make do. Stop complainin’.”

“Ya, ya, I know I know. I just wish we didn’t have to work cause it’s just… dumb. Like. People can make their coffee at home or buy it from a vending machine for once or something” Julian rambles angrily. 

“Capitalism, man” Babe shrugs, still sweeping. There ain’t one of their friend who hasn’t had to face angry white people spitting in their face and yelling at them that customer service is terrible and that they want to speak to the manager every time they have to tell them wearing a mask is mandatory now that shops and public spaces have reopened. Just this morning the 8 a.m. rush had been hell because a man in a black, expensive suit had refused to put on a mask and arguing with him had fucked up their entire rhythm.

Surviving the morning and lunch rushes was already awful in normal times, what with people being impatient and downright assholes sometimes. But now, when at least a third of the people entering the coffee shop refuses to have the decency to protect others from their possibly Covid-19 carrying germs? It's hell and beyond. 

Julian shakes his head. They’re silent for a little while, the coffee shop eerily empty on a Monday afternoon at 3:45 p.m. Julian finishes putting away the coffee beans packages, pours some into the coffee machine and starts working on making a strawberry syrup latte — “Horrendous”, according to David Webster, always the scholar, “Fucking health hazard of a virgin”, according to Babe's best friend Bill Guarnere, “How do I even put up with you, you weirdo” according to the fourth member of their Philly squad, Spina, and “Downright incredible”, according to George Luz, taste buds even more fucked up than Julian’s — for himself. “Want one?” he asks Babe.

Babe makes a face of disgust. “No, thank you. I happen to actually _like_ coffee, ya sweet-toothed monster”. The fact that he takes it with milk and honey is something they both know too well, but there are _limits_ when it comes to coffee sweetening that should never, _never_ be crossed.

Julian shrugs. “Your loss” he replies, hopping on the counter as his phone chimes. He takes it out, and a huge smile splits his face. “Babe! Lip’s out of rea!” he shouts, bopping up and down excitedly on the counter. 

Babe’s eyes widen. “For real?” he asks happily, doing a little victory dance with his mop. He feels like an unsuspected weight has been pulled off his chest. 

Carwood Lipton, one of their older friend, a PhD student and one of Babe’s economics teacher before he’d dropped out at the end of his first year, chose sociology as his major and decided to become a primary school teacher, had caught the virus six weeks ago and had been in reanimation for over a month. Everyone had been shaken when they’d heard about it, especially Luz, fellow sociology major and one of Lip’s best friends. Lip was well-liked amongst the student body, both for his calm demeanour and his encouraging words, and even more so amongst the Easy crowd — a name their group of friends had taken on during the “UPenn's Incredible Olympic Games” their uni had organised during Babe’s second year and that had stuck. 

That, plus the fact that nobody was allowed to visit him and that most of them hadn’t seen each other in over six months, except for the occasional, quick trips to where the others worked part-time, had taken a toll on everyone. The news couldn’t have come at a better time, too — Babe knew from Luz that Speirs was days away from killing someone out of frustration and worry, Lip’s boyfriend having already been in a fight with people who refused to wear masks twice in the past two weeks.

“How’s he? What are they sayin’?” he asks impatiently. Julian grins as he scrolls through what Babe’s sure is one of their numerous group chats.

“They saying the doctors are quite hopeful for a near-complete recovery, considering what we know of the long-lasting effects of the virus so far, even though he’ll have to do monthly check-ups for any damages to his lungs from now on. Luz also says he’s pretty sure he saw a tear roll down Ron’s face when Lip's doctor told them the news but was too scared to film it.”

Babe nods. “Understandable. When is he gonna get out?”

“His doctor says he should be waking up by tomorrow and be out of the hospital in two weeks tops, depending on how quickly he recovers.”

Babe hums and doesn't say anything for a while. He then clasps his hands unexpectedly. “Honestly, ya know what?” he says loudly to Julian, stopping his moping of the floor and taking his chin into his hand thoughtfully. “When we’re done with this whole thing I’m honestly going down on the first doctor or nurse I see who wanna. Just to thank them, ya know” he explains as Julian cackles and nods, taking a sip from his coffee.

That’s the moment Doc Roe choses to enter the coffee shop. “Will ya now, Heffron. Don’t forget to use protection.”

Babe startles. He almost slips on the wet floor and barely catches himself on the mop, a scared yelp escaping his lips. Julian snorts, coffee pouring out of his nose and through his mask as he starts laughing uncontrollably ( _gross_ , Babe thinks). He coughs and in an instant Roe is at his side, putting on hands sanitiser and clapping on his back. 

“There, there” he says, his face rendered even more impassible by the mask.

Julian’s coughs die down and the Doc takes a step back, his gaze meeting Babe’s. There’s a glint in it, almost as though Doc is — laughing? and Babe wants to die right there. 

Off course it had to be his luck that _he_ would enter the shop at the exact moment Babe would be going on about sucking off doctors and nurses in thanks. Off. fucking. course.

“Huh… G… Gene” Babe stammers. He can feel his cheeks burning as though he’s been dumped into a blazing fire. 

Julian wiggles his eyebrows at him from behind Doc’s back and Babe — Babe is gonna kill him. _I’m gonna kill ya_ , he conveys murderously with his eyes, and Julian starts laughing crazily again, bending down and whispering something that worryingly sounds like ‘this is the best day of my life’ under the clean mask he's just put on.

It is a well-known fact amongst their friends group that there is only one doctor in the whole world Babe Heffron wants to go down on, and that it is intern Eugene Roe — or, as everyone likes to call him since they met him through Spina their third year of college, Doc. 

“So watcha say, Doc. Think Babe’s idea here is a good gift to our new national heroes and heroines?”

Babe is _so_ gonna kill him.

“’Well ‘s long as both parties agree to it and once this whole ordeal is over with, don’t see nothing wrong with it” Eugene answers, shrugging. His gaze finds Babe’s again, that amused glint still there, and the ginger feels his brain plainly short-circuit at what comes out of his mouth next. “But aren’t you scared you’re going to be out of practice by then?” he asks almost as an afterthought, seemingly innocently. 

Julian snorts coffee through his nose again, hollers something that’s half a laugh and half a cough and almost falls off the counter. _Would serve him right_ , Babe thinks. His mask is a mess again and he lets out a “aww, dude” between two laughs as coffee and spit starts rolling off his chin. Gross. 

“Ya better sanitise all this before you serve anyone, Julian” Roe says. Babe still hasn’t moved, transfixed and red as a tomato.

Julian hops off the counter, still laughing, and comes back with a new face mask, cleaning supplies, and an enormous bottle of bleach. He cleans every surface, his endeavour occasionally interrupted by a fit of laughters, and goes back behind the counter once his work is done.

“So, what can I getcha, Doc? And I am _not_ offering you a blowjob, just so you know” he grins, gloating.

 _Fuck you_ , Babe thinks. _Fuck you_ , his eyes say. Julian winks at him, the little shit.

“Gimme a double expresso with an extra shot, please ( _Jesus Doc,_ Julian says, _life at the hospital’s really about to end you huh. Thank you for your service, dude_ ). And don’t ya worry about it, I know you ain’t the one offering”. And with that, he pays, takes his triple expresso to go, and winks at Babe on the way out.

And oh. _Oh_.

Babe almost dies right there, his eyes following Gene as he exits the coffee shop. He hears Julian fall into a new fit of laughter as he takes a picture of his dumb-struck, deep red face.

He doesn’t notice that though, his eyes still glued on the shop’s door. He should.

**[SILENCE! Group Chat 2 use when the ones in med school are trying to study]**

**From: The Goddamn Virgin Mary [4:08 P.M.]**

[Picture]

y’all never guess what just happened! 

**From: Wants To Get His Dice [4:08 P.M.]**

what a lovely tomato plant u got there julian 🍅

**From: Wild Bill [4:10 P.M.]**

Lemme guess

Doc dropped by for a coffee before his shift and Babe made a fool of himself

**From: Hermione Granger [4:10 P.M.]**

Poor Babe :(

**From: That Asshole™ [4:10 P.M.]**

Shut up, Web

**From: Hermione Granger [4:10 P.M.]**

Make me, Lieb

**From: That Asshole™ [4:10 P.M.]**

Come over and I will

**From: Tinny Italian With Very White Teeth [4:11 P.M.]**

Ugh, gross

**From: Spin, Spin, Spinaaaaaaa [4:12 P.M.]**

Come on guys, please

Social distancing

**From: Joe Toye (if any of you try to give me a nickname I will END you. Especially you, George) [4:12 P.M.]**

My eyes are bleeding. 

**From: The Goddamn Virgin Mary [4:12 P.M.]**

just move in together already so we don’t hafta suffer thru ur horny longing plz

some ppl like to not throw up when sober

**From: Wild Bill [4:12 P.M.]**

yeah, there are children in this group chat @Babe Heffron @John Julian

**From: The Goddamn Virgin Mary [4:12 P.M.]**

well fuck u too, Bill

**From: Wild Bill [4:13 P.M.]**

😘😘

**From: That Asshole™ [4:13 P.M.]**

you’re just jealous cause in the meantime you ain’t getting any

**From: Hermione Granger [4:13 P.M.]**

Oh my God, Lieb!

**From: Wants To Get His Dice [4:14 P.M.]**

i am traumatised 

ANYWAYS!!!

what’s the juice @john julian 😏😏

**From: The Goddamn Virgin Mary [4:14 P.M.]**

so we in the shop tryin’ to keep ourselves busy cuz there’s nobody here rn u know

and then we hear abt lip so we’re like, ecstatic 

**From: Joe Toye (if any of you try to give me a nickname I will END you. Especially you, George) [4:14 P.M.]**

Look at you, using grown-up, David Webster words.

**From: The Goddamn Virgin Mary [4:14 P.M.]**

joe if i wasn’t so scared of you i’d tell you to gently fuck off

**From: Joe Toye (if any of you try to give me a nickname I will END you. Especially you, George) [4:15 P.M.]**

☠️

**From: The Goddamn Virgin Mary [4:15 P.M.]**

anyways then babe, he says

omg i’m laughing again just thinking abt it

**From: Wants To Get His Dice [4:17 P.M.]**

he says what??? come on!!! 

**From: The Goddamn Virgin Mary [4:17 P.M.]**

he says 

he says “u know what when this is over im blowing any doctor or nurse who’ll have me as a thank you gift”

and right at this moment the Doc comes in and says “will ya now, Heffron. better use protection”, all stern like. 

(well, u know how he is)

**From: Wants To Get His Dice [4:17 P.M.]**

this is the best thing i’ve ever read

im screenshoting this convo and framing it

**From: Spin, Spin, Spinaaaaaaa [4:17 P.M.]**

omfggggggggg what did babe do???

**From: Wild Bill [4:17 P.M.]**

😂😂😂

**From: Hermione Granger [4:17 P.M.]**

Oh my Gooooooooooooood

**From: The Goddamn Virgin Mary [4:17 P.M.]**

wait wait it ain’t even the best part

so i start spitting coffee through my nose and Doc walks over to me to help me like nothing happened

meanwhile babe is frozen on the spot, all red in the face

and then i ask Doc “so watcha think of babe’s idea”, to rile babe up, u know

and the Doc he says, omfg, he says “well as long as they’re both consenting.”

**From: Wants To Get His Dice [4:18 P.M.]**

off course Doc would say that, bless his beautiful heart

**From: The Goddamn Virgin Mary [4:18 P.M.]**

WAIT

IM NOT DONE

AND THEN HE TELLS BABE

“BUT AREN’T YOU SCARED YA’RE GONNA BE OUT OF PRACTICE”

AND BABE FUCKING LOSES IT

(he hasn’t moved since then. im starting to think his brain fried)

AND WAIT CAUSE IT AIN’T EVEN THE BEST PART

so i clean up all the coffee i snorted bf asking the Doc what can i get him and i joke that i won’t suck him off

he orders a triple expresso and when i give him his drink he says “don’t worry abt it, i know you ain’t the one offering”

AND THEN HE TURNS AROUND 

IM PRETTY SURE HE WINKS AT BABE

AND THEN HE JUST LEAVES

**From: Wants To Get His Dice [4:20 P.M.]**

HOLY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT

**From: Tinny Italian With Very White Teeth [4:20 P.M.]**

lmaooooooooooooooooo

It’s always the silent ones you have to watch out for

**From: Donald Bollocks [4:20 P.M.]**

Well that train fucking left the station didn’t it

 **From: Wants To Get His Dice [4:20 P.M.]**

who knew Doc was such a smooth motherfucker

im shook

(hi malark, glad to see you're still alive you asshole, answer my text)

**From: Wild Bill [4:20 P.M.]**

[GIF of someone laughing]

hear that @Babe Heffron? Ya finally gonna get some!

I’m so proud of you

After so many years of being thirsty after the Doc I will finally be free from your incessant pining 

**From: Spin, Spin, Spinaaaaaaa [4:21 P.M.]**

@George Luz I did

**From: Hermione Granger [4:21 P.M.]**

awwwwww that’s all so cute

**From: That Asshole™ [4:22 P.M.]**

they talking about sucking dick and you’re saying it’s cute? what the fuck is wrong with you

**From: Joe Toye (if any of you try to give me a nickname I will END you. Especially you, George) [4:22 P.M.]**

@Joseph Liebgott @David Webster both of you SHUT THE FUCK UP

**From: Wants To Get His Dice [4:22 P.M.]**

@Ralph Spina plz explain

**From: Spin, Spin, Spinaaaaaaa [4:24 P.M.]**

Another story for another time 😘

**From: Wants To Get His Dice [4:24 P.M.]**

come on ur no fun

i cant believe Doc and Babe are FINALLY gonna get their shit together and fuck

im so proud

**From: The Goddamn Virgin Mary [4:24 P.M.]**

same

they’re gonna be insufferable 

**From: Spin, Spin, Spinaaaaaaa [4:25 P.M.]**

yep. they’re both sappy as fuck

**From: Wild Bill [4:25 P.M.]**

[GIF of someone groaning]

I’m gonna regret the pining aren’t I

**From: Wants To Get His Dice [4:25 P.M.]**

probably

**From: The Goddamn Virgin Mary [4:25 P.M.]**

¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

**From: Wild Bill [4:26 P.M.]**

Ugh

**From: Hinkle’s Babe [4:48 P.M.]**

I hate u all.

**From: Hinkle’s Babe [4:51 P.M.]**

im disowning you as friends. 

**From: Wild Bill [4:56 P.M.]**

Aww come on Babe

**From: The Goddamn Virgin Mary [5:09 P.M.]**

yeah don't be like that, luv u little leprechaun 😘

**From: Donald Bollocks [5:38 P.M.]**

@George Luz I've answered your text 😁

FOUR MONTHS LATER

The party is in full blast, people left and right dancing and enjoying this incredible feeling of refound liberty. People are hugging, laughing, enjoying the fact that they're back together. The virus ain’t gone, it’s true. But the situation is sufficiently under control life’s almost back to normal — or to a new normal made of wearing masks in public transports, anyway. Online classes have started again a couple of months before and the whole Easy team has been waiting for the moment they’d finally be able to blow off some steam.

Babe smiles as he watches Luz and Buck friendly competing over a game of darts. He's about to go into the kitchen to pour himself another drink when the doorbell rings. He hears his best friend exclaim “Doc! You made it!” and he freezes on the spot.

He thinks about _that_ encounter with Eugene, about the very few times he's seen him since, sparse, fleeting, frustrating moments where they didn’t really have the time or opportunity to talk, the air around them heavy with tension and unsaid wants and feels his whole body light up in anticipation.

_”I swear if I leave you alone with him in the coffee shop I won’t even dare touch anything ever again,” Julian had said once after a particularly intense encounter where Babe had tripped bringing Gene his coffee and the older man and caught him, his hand on Babe’s forearm spreading fire through his vein, their eyes locking together and their faces so close his ohsoclose, a mask away from kissing, yet so far as Gene had pushed away, blushing. “Thought you were gonna fuck right there and then, consequences be damned.”_

_“Fuck off” Babe had said, his heart pouding and the pit of his stomach churning with want and longing._

Now Gene is here and there are no restrictions anymore. He could… Babe doesn’t know what he could. But the memories of the last four months are dancing behind his eyelids and his whole body is aching with the need to see him. To touch him. To _tell_ him.

He leaves the kitchen just as Gene finishes putting on hands sanitiser and thanking Bill for the invite. He looks up as Babe enters the living room and the younger man just freezes.

The whole room seems to come to a weird stillness, music still on and conversations still going strong but as though subdued — as though Babe’s side-stepped into a parallel world, one where everything is tamed saved for Eugene and him.

“Ge…” he begins, opening his mouth, chestnut eyes transfixed on Gene’s deep blue ones. Gene must find what he was looking for in Babe's expression because his dark gaze grows intense, purposeful, as though trying to pin Babe down. 

He doesn’t have the opportunity to finish his sentence (what was he even gonna say anyway?) because Eugene strides to him, grabs him by the t-shirt (his favourite one, dark green, that does wonders with his skin tone and that he put on in the hope Gene would show up) and pulls him down for a kiss.

The Earth stops spinning. 

Babe freezes in surprise before coming to his senses and kissing back eagerly. He vaguely hears some of the guys whoop, George whistle and Bill shout “fucking finally!". Julian says something along the lines of “oh my god, please don’t do it in the middle of the living room”, and someone (probably Lieb) tells them to get a room. Babe flips them all off, smiling into the kiss, putting his hands on the small of Gene’s back and pulling the shorter man closer.

He’s kissing Gene and Gene's kissing him. The man he’s been in love with for the better part of three years is kissing him passionately, one of his hands still gripping his shirt and the other one cupping his jaw, feeling the stubble there. The love of his life heard him make a joke about sucking off a doctor and he…

Wait. Is he only doing this so Babe will blow him?

“Are ya only doing this so I will blow ya?” Babe asks before he can stop himself and try to apply even a semblance of anything resembling a filter between his brain and his mouth.

Eugene blinks at him owlishly before letting out a small chuckle and that — Babe never wants him to stop doing that. He wows to do everything in his power so Gene will never stop doing that.

“Off course not, Babe. I’m doing this because I’m _in love_ with you. Have been for a while, too” he says softly, and his smile makes Babe’s heart soar.

“You… love me?” he chokes.

Gene chuckles. “Yes, I do. And I’m tired of pretending I don’t. I don’t wantcha to go and see any other doctor but me.”

Babe lets out a startled noise and blushes. “Ya… You’re sayin’ me sayin’ I’d go down on any doctor or nurse who wanna got you jealous? And that you’re kissin' me because ya love me and want to kiss me and hold my hand and stuff?”

Babe knows it’s more or less what Gene just told him and he’s being an idiot. But he’s waited for this forever and he wants to be sure. 

Gene shakes his head but his gaze is full of fondness. “Yes, Babe. It is exactly what I’m saying.”

Babe beams and pulls him in for another kiss. This time, their entire group of friends whistles and it’s Eugene that flips them off, laughing wholeheartedly into the kiss. Babe can’t do anything but stop and stare at him, and when Gene looks up he has that glint in his eyes, the same one he had in that coffee shop all those months ago, and pulls Babe closer so he can whisper in his ear.

“But, you know. I’ll also still gladly accept your thank you gift” he says, his hand trailing along Babe’s arm.

Babe thinks he might definitely die right here and there this time.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it! do not hesitate to leave kuddos / a comment if you want, that'd be greatly appreciated. i feel like babe and julian are the "millenials/gen z" of the group hence the way they type, and that george being george he might be older but he'd still type like a millenial-almost-gen-z person
> 
> english isn't my first langage so do not hesitate to tell me if you see any mistake :) 
> 
> and you can find me [here](https://deciduousellie.tumblr.com) if you wanna say hi!
> 
> wear a mask and don't be assholes okay? not really punk to put other people's lives at risk


End file.
